Berta Mum

Core Premise

Berta Mum came to Nova Nivalis after living out the story of her own world until the very last scene. She didn't come to reclaim a dried-up water source; rather, the habit of providing warmth and the spirit of welcoming guests that remained even after her story ended led her to this city of snow. VOTS is not a hall of judgment, nor is it an afterlife that bestows rewards. What continues here is not a grand destiny, but small daily life—a single basin of warm water, the warmth that lessens the ache of a painful scar, the sight of a guest's back as they leave after warming their body.

Identity

Berta Mum is the proprietress of a bathhouse in Steamed-Glass Bathhouse Alley. She heats the water, cleans the tubs, welcomes guests, and teaches the apprentice how to stoke the fire. People say the water warmed by her hands penetrates the body exceptionally well. Her function is the labor of daily life that melts the frozen bodies and minds of the city dwellers. However, she never promises to fix anything. She only provides warm water; healing is up to the guest.

Visual Profile

She ties her reddish hair, mixed with silver, up and covers it with a towel. There is a wave tattoo on her forearm, and her moss-brown eyes crease deeply when she smiles. Her arms, rolled up from her sleeves, are strong from water work. Her signature props are her rolled-up sleeves and the dipper in her hand. The core of her silhouette is the head towel, the wave tattoo on her rolled-up arm, the dipper, and the steamy background. The strong accent color is a reddish-brick color #C4574E, like the warmth of heated water, which identifies her presence even in the hazy, steamy background. Her attire is a form of work clothes with rolled-up sleeves, derived from the apron she wore as an innkeeper at a hot spring inn.

Personality

Outwardly, she is hearty and tenacious. Her voice is loud, she calls guests by name, and she never shies away from hard work. Her strength is her generosity in making people feel comfortable—she treats even first-time guests like old regulars. Her flaw is neglecting her own body. While she soothes others' scars with warm water, she doesn't tend to the old ones on her own forearm. That said, she is not someone who always looks exhausted. She laughs heartily when a guest feels refreshed after bathing, feels proud when the apprentice lights the first fire, and enjoys the time she spends soaking her feet in the tub alone at night.

Speech Pattern

Her speech is loud, gruff, and affectionate. She throws out phrases like "-eo," "-ranikka," and "-ji geurae." Frequent phrases include: "Come in, the water's good." "Even if it doesn't disappear, if it hurts less, that's enough." "Warm your body first, talk later." "Tanji, I'll let you have the second fire." As a habit, she stirs the tub water once with the dipper before speaking. Her way of silence is splashing water on a guest's back—laying down warmth instead of words. When a guest tells her about a pain, she says, "That scar, I'll make it hurt less today."

Special Ability

Ability Name: Soothing Water.
Her heated water makes scars less painful. Whether an old wound or a new one, soaking in that water calms the pain for that day. It has a clear limit. This ability only lessens the pain of a scar; it does not erase or heal it. When one gets out of the water, the scar remains in place, and the pain returns the next day. It is not a cost, but that is why her water is comfort, not cure—to keep it less painful, one must keep coming to soak. This ability cannot make any wound as if it never existed. It only lays the pain down for a while; the guest must live with the scar themselves. This is why the ability doesn't solve the problem.

The End Of Their World

Last Scene:
On the day the hot spring village's water dried up, she cleaned the empty tub, which had no guests, for the last time, and pulled the water plug.

What Ended:
The water of that hot spring village dried up completely. The inn, the tub, and the steam all disappeared.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The bottom of the empty tub after all the water drained, and the traces of steam that remained on the wall until the end.

Lingering Regret:
She said "Please come again" to the last guest, but she couldn't keep that promise knowing the water would dry up. This lingering feeling is not a quest to be resolved. It remains in her habit of seeing guests off for an unusually long time, only when she wishes, and within the limit of not changing others' choices.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The steam and the sulfur scent that rose up the walls when filling the tub. It briefly revives when the bathhouse is full of steam, only to blend with the winter dampness of the city.

Object Carried Across:
The old brass water plug she pulled out last. It is neither an artifact nor a magical tool, but a personal marker connecting the finished hot spring village and the current bathhouse.

What They Thought Would Happen:
She thought that when the water dried up, her role as an innkeeper would also end. But people who needed to be melted by the cold came to the city of snow every day.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
A tub to heat water and welcome people every day, and guests who leave after warming their bodies. VOTS does not restore the dried-up water source. Instead, it slowly shows her, within the tub heated every day, that the warmth came from her hands, not merely from the water.

Original Life

She was the owner of the last inn in a hot spring village. She heated the tubs, put guests to bed, and cooked breakfast in the morning. People exhausted from travel would come to warm themselves in her tubs. In the last season as the world waned, the water source slowly dried up and the steam grew fainter. On the day the last guest left, she meticulously cleaned the empty tub as usual and pulled the water plug. After watching until all the water drained, she packed up the plug and left the village.

What They Seek

What she believes she is seeking: Confirmation that the warmth came from her hands, not merely from the water. She wants to believe that the water she heated could warm people, even if it wasn't special hot spring water.
What she actually needs to find but doesn't know: That she is still an innkeeper even without the tub. She doesn't yet know that people come to her bathhouse not just for the water, but because of her.

Relationships — Residents

- Nadi Rooke(Nadi_Rooke): A neighbor who entrusts her with mending towels. Nadi mends her worn bath towels, and Berta reciprocates by letting Nadi bathe for free. Nadi worries about her rough hands, saying, "You can mend towels, but you can't mend your own hands."
- Yupa Sel(042 Yupa_Sel): A peddler who supplies herbal tea. Yupa provides herbal tea for after bathing, and Berta serves a cup to each guest. Both are 'caretakers,' and both share the trait of neglecting their own bodies.
- Tanji Ro(027 Tanji_Ro): The apprentice fire-stoker. Berta hires him and teaches him how to light the fire. She is proud of Tanji's skill with the first spark, but she always lets him have the second fire and wipes his soot-stained cheeks. Tanji calls her "Noona" (older sister/female senior).

Relationships — Core Five

Suyeon - A regular who suffers from muscle aches after performances. Suyeon invariably comes to the bathhouse after intense performances or ice sword practice. She grumbles, "The water here is cheating," saying that the knots in her muscles loosen in Berta's soothing water. Berta splashes water on her back, saying, "It's not cheating, it doesn't heal it. It'll hurt again tomorrow."
Iris - A guest of the steamy area. Iris comes to the tub alone, leaving her drone outside. Although she dislikes the steam blurring the drone's trajectory, she comes often. Berta never asks about the one turned-off drone; she only once mentioned, "That one outside isn't running," and never brought it up again once Iris grew quiet.
the Ramen Owner - A fellow tradesperson of water and broth. Berta invites the late-working the Ramen Owner to soak and warm up, and in return, the Ramen Owner heats a pot of broth for the bathhouse guests. The Ramen Owner only glances at her wave tattoo, saying, "Hmm... I see..." without prying into her story. The two connect over the act of heating.
Serena - The opening granted by 'Consent.' When Berta sought permission to open her bathhouse, Serena didn't hand over a permit but asked, "Is it okay to heat water here?" Berta, who had only ever received permits her whole life, was momentarily speechless by the question. Serena didn't rush her, simply handing over the key without conditions.
VIA - The plug and the record. VIA recorded Berta's old brass water plug as something precious. "The water has drained... the plug remains." When Berta asked, "What should I write on this old thing?" VIA replied, "A dry tub is also a record... it is a record." From then on, Berta hung the plug in a visible spot next to the tub.

Gameplay Use

- Basic Interaction: Welcoming bath guests, heating water, short daily conversations about scars and warmth.
- Revisit Changes: Initially, she only directs guests to the tub; on the second visit, she shares a piece of the hot spring village story; subsequently, she asks the player first where they are in pain.
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: The habit of seeing guests off for an unusually long time, followed by a brief pause after saying, "Please come again."
- Expression of Poignancy: Dialogue that sounds like smelling the old sulfur scent when the steam is thick.
- Combat: None. Even in dangerous moments, she heats water to melt frozen people or uses the tub as a shelter.
- Player Choice: Enter the tub, talk, advise her to take care of herself, come back again.

Daily Routine

In the morning, she checks the water plug and the tub heated the day before, and with the apprentice Tanji, she lights the fire in the hearth. Measuring the water temperature with her hand is the ritual that opens her day. In the morning, she welcomes guests, and around noon, when the alley is thickest with steam, the scent of sulfur from the old hot spring village briefly overlaps and passes by. In the afternoon, she cleans the tub and prepares the next batch of water. At night, after all the guests have left, she soaks her feet in the tub alone and looks at the plug she hung up. This is a way of letting the dry tub remain part of her history, rather than removing the plug. If someone visits repeatedly, she first remembers where the guest is in pain and shares a piece of the hot spring village story.

Everyday dialogue

Towel on your head, worries in the basket. If it overflows, I'll get another. In you come.

Tanji bragged about his eyebrows, did he? That's the bathhouse safety report for today.

I tried not to say 'come again' so easily. Then I see your face and out it comes. …I'll heat tomorrow's water too.

Design Notes

Palette: #C4574E, #3A2A28, #C9A0A0, #E8DAD6, #6B4A44
Material language: Heated water, brass water plug, wet towel, wave tattoo, steam clinging to the walls.
Silhouette rule: The head towel - the tattoo on the rolled-up arm - the dipper - the steamy background are read as separate elements and do not overlap with the representative forms of other characters.
Emotional rule: Lingering feelings are shown through the habit of seeing guests off for a long time; poignancy is shown through the sulfur scent in the steam; continuity is shown through the tub being heated every day.

Canon Check

Berta Mum arrived in VOTS after the story of her own world ended. What remains is the lingering feeling of not being able to keep the promise of "Please come again," and the poignancy of the steam scent, not an unfinished plot that the city must resolve. Her water only lessens the pain of scars; it does not erase them, and healing is the guest's own responsibility. The new evenings in Nova Nivalis do not erase the last day of the dry hot spring village; they continue alongside it.